CONAN O'BRIEN CAN'T STOP

Stars: Conan O’Brien, Andy Richter, Jeff Ross, Steve Kroft, Eddie Vedder, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, Jack White, Jack McBrayer, Jon Hamm, Kristen Schaal and Mike Sweeney.
Director: Rodman Flender.

Rating: 4/5

Having apprenticed his way through the early-dawn timeslot as he waited out his rightful position next-in-line for the Holy Grail of American television – host of NBC’s The Tonight Show – Conan O’Brien assumed the mantle...for seven lovely months. But when his predecessor Jay Leno wanted the hosting gig back after the failure of his 10.00pm variety show experiment, the brass called in O’Brien, cut him a big cheque and ushered him off the lot. Sure, it was more convoluted and all parties lawyered up, but the impact and outcome was the same; Conan O’Brien had been screwed and the showman was devastated.

As captured in Rodman Flender’s sad, insightful yet very funny documentary Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, the Boston native, with his prodigious talent and towering red mane (he jokes he looks like Jimmy Neutron by way of Tilda Swinton), took his schtick on the road to battle the anger and depression that congealed within him following the brutal betrayal. Though it is essentially a performance piece filled with backstage insight, this compelling work refuses to skimp on the man’s motivations for getting back in touch with his people. He hates NBC; he hates Jay Leno (at one point, he imagines a telegram from Leno that asks, “What’s it like to have a soul?”). But O’Brien loves his audience; he loves performing. The film captures the exhaustive healing process he had to endure to emerge (relatively) cleansed.

Early scenes, many shot with O’Brien’s wife and family in their home as the concert tour comes into focus (caustically title ‘The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour’, mocking the conditions of his payout arrangement), portray a man struggling to keep hold of that spark that has driven his creativity to date. His humour has always been biting*, yet his genuine warmth has kept him onside with audiences; in 2010, Conan O’Brien is a bitter man and he struggles with concert content that he is determined to not let become a surrogate psych-session. He also finds the role of ‘celebrity’ challenging, with several scenes depicting just how annoyed he can become when the sacred seal of backstage privacy is broken.

The bitterness over his high-profile shafting never fully melts away (having arrived in an all-but deserted Eugene, Oregon for his first live gig, he wryly observes, “I should be talking to Barack Obama now, or playing guitar with Springsteen...”) but nor does the obvious affection for the die-hard fans who clearly adore him. Surrounded by a well-established professional circle (notably his committed if long-suffering PA Sona Movsesian and sidekick Andy Richter) and driven to provide a unique high-energy concert experience smothered in lashing of meta self-mocking, Conan O’Brien clearly both can’t and won’t stop.

*I became a fan after this monologue classic from Late Night, circa 2006: “News is that Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt have broken up, mostly because one of them wanted to have kids. Same reason The Jackson Five broke up.”